


Stones in Your Mouth

by Not_You



Series: It's Weird When Shaw Is Nice [6]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Babies, Babysitting, Domestic, Fluff, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Pets, Worldbuilding, alex is troubled, fuck yeah Wakanda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-30
Updated: 2012-11-30
Packaged: 2017-11-19 22:44:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/578430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Not_You/pseuds/Not_You
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>David is a very unconventional baby.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stones in Your Mouth

David is a very strange baby. He speaks Stonetongue before he can walk, lisping the ancient syllables with his toothless mouth while he's still barely past 'mama' in the vernacular, and sometimes levitates, and smiles and giggles and coos at things that aren't there. Father just chuckles and calls him a mad little beast, kissing the streaks. Anya persuaded her tutor to show her a variety of illustrations of madsign, and knows that her brother's markings indicate a rare degree of the affliction. Still, they're pretty, and afflicted or not he's a happy baby. He loves Charles and nurses hungrily and loves it when Mother sings to him. Mother's milk has come down as well, just from being around a baby he loves so much, and he feeds David too. Anya knows that Mother is sad that he can't make babies anymore, and she's pretty sure that having David around helps.

It's too bad there's not much peace and quiet right now. It's all Mother and Charles seem to want as they dote endlessly on the baby. Anya would be jealous if not for two things: one, it's silly to be jealous of a baby, and two, they don't neglect her. Sure, when she runs to them with new art they'll be cooing over David or rocking him to sleep, but they always look at it, and when David is awake they show him too. He's still very small, but blue is clearly his favorite color so today Anya paints him a sea. He doesn't like all the noise since Alex came, and she hopes the picture will soothe him. Not that the noise is Alex's fault. He acts mean, but Father and Mother both say he's just like Mother's horse, and they'll gentle him the same way.

Mother's horse is a huge dapple grey stallion. Now he's so tame Anya can ride him a bit if Mother is with her, but when he was new, when she was just little like David is now, Father says he was as wild as a deer. Around the time of Anya's birth there had been bandits, bad men roaming the land to hurt people and take things. Of course Father got rid of them, but they had things with them from other lands. Some of them were claimed, and in fact one had been a Wakanda shrine statue that had been missing for years. Father says the jewels were all gone but the metal had been too hard to break up or melt, and that the Wakanda king had just waved a hand and said there were more jewels in the world. But finally they had had to keep some of the things. Clothes and bedding and other household goods had gone to the people, as well as their share of the money, but a horse that wouldn't let anyone near it was useless, and they had put him in a corral. He had been too skinny and dirty for Mother to recognize at first, but after he ate some oats and it rained, Mother had seen that he was an iron horse, the old breed Mother's people had always kept. And Mother had said that he was one of the Chosen People and would not leave an iron horse to suffer with no master.

Father says the same thing about Alex now. Bandits didn't have Alex, but his parents had been killed by one of the giant eagles from the north and the family fostering his younger brother doesn't have the right stuff to deal with his out of control fire magic. She feels bad for Alex, because she knows they wouldn't let her hold David if she randomly burst into flames a few times a day. There have always been fire mages in Father's family, so they have a whole suite of flame-proof rooms for Alex to stay in while he tries to learn to master himself. At least now he's sleeping, so Anya can show David the picture and make him clap and gurgle and say 'good!' lots of times in Stonetongue. She's learning it so can talk together, and just grins and points at the orange fish. 'Fish,' she tells him, feeling the words kind of rumble through all the bones of her skull. 'Fish!' David agrees, grabbing his feet joyfully. Mother laughs, and Charles beams at them. It takes magical talent (however little) to speak Stonetongue, and Anya is happy to find out that she has some at last.

"Someday I'll visit Westchester again, and I'll take him to the seaside there." The southern seas are shallow and warm and very, very blue. Father has told Anya about them, and how different they are than the grey-green western ocean. She bounces on her feet and asks Charles to take her too. He laughs, and tugs her into his arms, hugging her. "Of course, dearheart."


End file.
